How to gain weight?

Hi,

I'm 17 years old and fairly skinny, but I would like to gain a bit more weight, so I could buy size medium clothes and not look unhealthy and too skinny. I know I should work out then, but I don't want to get really ripped and have a lot of definition. I just want a bit more 'volume'.
I still want to remain on the skinny side, because I think that looks nice and model-ish.

I completely understand your desire to gain weight because I was the exact same. I was 5'10" and 107 pounds at 17 years old. I literally tried EVERYTHING to gain weight (worked out, used weight gainer, would drink milkshakes, etc.) and NOTHING worked. Everyone told me that when I turned 25 that I would gain all the weight. NOPE! Then everyone said at 30 it would hit me... NOPE! I learned to be smaller at 35 when I was 5'10" 115 lbs. So of course when I come to grips with it I start gaining weight. I'm now 40, 5'10" and 155lbs. I could only wish to be back down to 130 or so enjoy it while you can...

To put on weight the only possible way is to eat more calories than your body uses in a day. If you did this and no gym work, your body would simply eventually turn these excess calories into fat and not muscle. You'd end up looking even more unhealthy as you'd have no muscle definition, would still look slim but with a belly.

If you want to be serious about putting on weight, you need to be doing some resistance / weight work at the gym, there isn't really any escaping it. If you are skinny now, you obviously have a high metabolism, so you have to shock your body in to weight gain with weights. It's a myth that by doing weights you'd suddenly turn into a beefcake muscle man, simply won't happen - I've been in gyms going weights to the point of aching for days for the last 15 years and have never been over 10 stone.

Protein builds muscle and carbs feed muscle (first) then acts as a fat store
Fats go pretty much straight to fat store (if you have enough sugar in your blood)
Sugar gets used as immediate energy then turns to fat if not used.

Focus on your protein intake.

So, I'd be doing:

2-3 protein shakes a day
Creatine on workout days
Weights / resistance in gym 3-4 days a week for at least 6 months.

If you did this (properly) I guarantee you'll put some weight on. It will not be easy though!

I know the feeling mate, i've been there.
I'm 5'11" and used to weigh 9 1/2 stone before I started gymming and taking my diet seriously.
I'm now just about 11 stone and it's made a huge difference! I've had to buy a new wardrobe but I fill out my clothes nicely now and they look much better.

It's simple, whatever you're eating now is obviously not enough; you have to eat MORE. Calories in must be higher than calories burned.

The best way I found was to use an app called myfitnesspal, they have a website as well that you can use.
You're going to want to determine your maintenance calories first; these being the amount of calories you need to consume in order to maintain your current weight.
Once you know this, you can then start eating a surplus of calories in order to gain weight. I'm eating between 300-500 above maintenance in order to stay lean and gain weight at the same time. Eat too much over your maintenance and you'll end up getting fat.

As Creed says, protein is important in order to put on some muscle, you'll typically want to get around 1-1.5g of protein per lb of body weight.

Now of course you want to incorporate some weight training into this as well, eating excess amounts of calories is otherwise just going to make you fat.
There are some beginner workout programs like Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe which you can find through Google which is definitely a good starting point.

Obviously as you just want to add a bit of volume rather than getting completely jacked, i'd say go for about 3 workout days a week; keep them short and intense (45-60mins) and stick with it!
Consistency is key, there's no point going all out and burning yourself out in a few weeks. Start gradually and stick to it, you'll definitely see results.

But do remember, you have to eat more

I know this is a lot of information and you shouldn't just go dive in at the deep end. Just start gradually working on cleaning up your diet and making yourself eat more with the addition of some gym sessions during the week and you'll be well on your way.

Have a morning 1,000 calorie shake. Go with a pint of milk, 2 scoops of oak powder, 1-2 tablespoons of peanut butter, a scoop of whey and a scoof of creatine. Providing you eat 3 square meals minimum on top of that you'll gain weight big time and it will be healthy, not through junk food.

Hi! Thanks for the reply! I will definitely try what you said. But the problem is, I do not have the option to go to a gym (it's 15 kilometers away and it wouldn't work out with school work). Do you know a good 'at home' training program? I have dumbbells and a doorway pull-up bar.

If you want to put on weight (as in overall muscle weight) don't forget your leg and back muscles weight the most. Focus on these. So many people want to beef up but train the smaller muscles like bicep, and wonder why they don't put any weight on.

Hi! Thanks for the reply! I will definitely try what you said. But the problem is, I do not have the option to go to a gym (it's 15 kilometers away and it wouldn't work out with school work). Do you know a good 'at home' training program? I have dumbbells and a doorway pull-up bar.

Thanks for the help!!

It's very possible to get a good workout at home, but chances are it's going to get boring after a while. Start subscribing to some fitness/bodybuilding youtube channels and search in their channels for stuff that applies to you like "home workout", "pull-up variations", "dumbbell workout", "bulking" and so on.
Also as soon as you get started with your workout you need to realise that diet is everything. Again search for "diet", "bulking diet" on youtube.